Thursday, April 23, 2009

Several weeks ago, I did a deal at Target that gave me a $5 gift card (Buy 2 packs of Schick Quattro for Women razors, get a $5 gift card). I had $4 off coupons, so it made for a decent deal. Then a week or so later, I did a new deal that gave me a $5 gift card, (Buy a Gillette Fuzion and a Gillette shave gel, get a $5 gift card). Again, I had coupons and BUT this time I used the first $5 gift card to pay for the new deal. So I've started this cycle of paying with a gift card to get a gift card! AND...I'M...HOOKED.

So when I read about the NEWEST gift card deal (Buy 2 Glade Fragrance collection candles, get a $5 gift card) I was determined to do it again. This was the best by far. The small candles were $5.99 each. $5.99 x 2 = $11.98. Of course, I wasn't going to pay $11.98 for candles! (even though they really do smell good) I had 2 $4 off coupons, so it was $11.98 -$8 = $3.98! AND I GOT A $5 gift card back!!! Can you believe it??? They paid me to take their candles! Ok, Target, you don't have to twist my arm, I'll gladly take them. Thank you.

I also picked up two packs of Kraft Easy Mac meals to see if the Target coupon would work. The coupon said "$1 off two Kraft Easy Mac Meals." But the picture was a 4 pack of meals. It beeped and said "Item not purchased" or something like that. ??? I said that I thought the Target coupon wording always seemed pretty vague. She said "We have to go by the picture." Like that makes sense. But she let me do it this time, so they were $0.77 each, minus the $1 coupon. In total, I owed $4.94, paid with my previous $5 gift card, and she handed me a new $5 gift card. Good deals are so much fun.

So, get out and do this deal, people. If you haven't heard about it yet, Money Saving Mom gives all the details here and gives the link for the printable coupons (hopefully they are still available for you.) When good deals come along, those printable coupons can go quick! Don't tell my mom or mother-in-law, but they are getting candles for Mother's Day. :) And hopefully some other good deals to go along with them.

I didn't use all my coupons from my first Kmart trip, so Monday I went out and tried out another local Kmart. This Kmart had tons of the new Spring Beauty coupon booklet out for people to take! Yay! And I found a huge clearance section of products that I used coupons on! I love clearance sections and have never seen a Kmart with one that included Health and Beauty products. I will remember that, believe me. I didn't see as many couponers this time, but I did run into a nice Mother/Daughter combo and we chatted a little. They graciously gave me some Huggies coupons, which was super nice and I told them to make sure and grab some of the Spring coupon booklets. They also mentioned CVS was a great place to get diapers and I told them I LOVE CVS too. We bonded. :)

**Milk $2.49**Hormel Compleat meal, was supposed to be $2, rang up $2.79, she said I had to buy 3 because they were 3/$6. Ugg. I got it because I was afraid I would be under by $50 limit, to use the $5/$50 coupon. Used $0.75 coupon, doubled. $1.29.

Total: $57.88 (around $61 with tax)

Minus $5 off a $50 purchase, Minus all other coupons: $6.59

Tax: $2.07

Total before returns: $8.66

Minus $6.08 in returns.

Total after annoying return, including tax: $2.58

The customer service lady was SO rude. If any of you know me, I am not mean or loud or rude and just politely told her the situation. She grabbed my receipt and basically told me there was nothing she could do. She spent 10-15 minutes going through the coupons I used (all the while Cooper has been a gem the whole time, thankfully.) She comes back with more excuses and I say I just want to return them. She huffs and puffs and bangs things around loudly, hands me my money and receipt and says nothing. Ugg. People like that! I just don't get it. Yes, I understand Super Double coupon week may be extra stressful. I get that. But I did nothing to deserve that treatment. I had 18 items and 17 coupons (no coupon for the milk) and so I knew that coupons weren't taken off. Oh well, I got my money back and her attitude is not my problem. Of all the stuff, I really needed the milk, which was $2.49 and so I paid just a couple extra cents for the rest of the stuff.

Monday, April 20, 2009

On Sunday, I hit up Kmart for their Super Double Coupon event. And this is not your typical double coupon situation. They were doubling up to and including $2 coupons! Wow. I was excited. I love the thrill of conquering a great sale. I made it out about 1pm. I didn't have any problem with a lack of inventory, which is great. I did run in to quite a few other groups of people with their coupon stashes doing the same thing. I also made sure to sign up for and print off my $5 off a $50 Kmart purchase coupon you can get for registering at kmart.com, I believe, so I was hoping I could use that too.

I luckily made the trip by myself so I had all of my brain and attention to use towards getting some great deals. An interesting thing is that Kmart sets up their computer system that the coupon will double, but will not give you more money off than the actual price of the item. The cash register does all the work. However, occasionally the cashier will have to push a button to pick which item the coupon is for. My cashier wasn't into precision, but mainly tried to do things quickly. So she did miss one coupon (which I ended up returning that item) and she did somehow give me overage for one item, just because she quickly pressed a button without looking at what she was pressing. Here's what I found:

Now, when relaying this trip to my Dad, he said "Did you really need all the stuff you got?" Always rational, my dad. But the answer is "No." I really didn't need it all, but it is all stuff that I will either eventually use, pass on to friends or family, or donate. But of the things I did need and was currently out of (4 Compleat Meals, 2 Pledge Wipes, 4 Toilet Bowl cleaners) I would not have been able to get those for $2.86 total anywhere if I just ran and picked them up on the spur of the moment. So the other things I scored were all just bonuses to me and my stockpile.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I hit CVS a couple times this week. Free Sobe Water was nice (it was BOGO and there's a BOGO coupon). I also got the free after ECB's Colgate toothpaste and Softsoap Body wash, of course. I had coupons for those, so I made more ECBs than I used. :) :)

But Thursday was the best trip of the week. Money Saving Mom posted about a BOGO Purex detergent coupon on coupons.com. What was EXTRA SUPER SWEET was that CVS had this detergent on BOGO sale also this week. BOGO sale, plus BOGO coupon=F-R-E-E. Free! The printable coupons usually let you print two of each coupon, per computer, so that's what I did. I was even going to print some off at my parents, but the coupon reached it's limit FAST and was gone either the same day or next day. Oh well, Four detergents will last awhile (along with the 3 I already have in my stockpile.)

My cashier (a very nice one that is always friendly) wasn't sure if I could use the BOGO coupon. I didn't want to be a problem, and I told her that I thought it would, but if not it's fine. She asked the manager (a new guy--I'll be so happy if the old guys leaves--he so reminds me of a used car salesman, I can't stand it.) Anyways. The new guy read the coupons and said it should be fine. Technically (I didn't tell him this, but this is how it works, and CVS coupon policy states that you can use a BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale--but the workers don't always know that), but technically, CVS is offering the BOGO sale, however they do that in conjunction with the manufacturer, and then Purex is offering the coupon (which CVS will be reimbursed for), so there's really no reason why they shouldn't but sometimes they get all crazy about it. If they wouldn't have let me, I would have bought them at a different CVS. Earlier in the week, I did the same sort of thing with the Sobe Life Water deal and it wasn't a problem.

Again, I don't have a picture, but I'll let you use your imagination to visual 4 bottles of Purex detergent. :) I also grabbed two Sobe waters. I had CVS coupons for $0.50 off these, used 2 of them and so they were about $0.49 total. With tax and everything, my total was $1.58. Strangely enough, I had an ECB for $1.58. I didn't think I could use it, but this particular cashier will take it and just adjust it however she needs to. So I ended up paying $0.00 out of pocket! And I actually got back a Surprise $1 ECB from the Softsoap that printed the wrong ECB earlier this week and I called and they fixed it.

I love when $0.00 happens. It doesn't happen often, but you get that A-Team feeling when it does... "I love it when a plan comes together."

Friday, April 17, 2009

I really needed to do a major grocery trip this week. I just couldn't get it to happen, so I had to settle with taking my wee one with me. I like shopping with him almost always, but when it comes to a big trip, it's just not usually fun. I have a big stash of coupons, he has the patience of a 21 month old. And we pull into the parking lot and I realize I only have one biscuit cookie for him to gnaw on. Bad planning. So we tried. I could have saved about $5 more dollars, at least, I'm estimating if I was alone. A couple things rang up wrong and a couple coupons didn't come off. It's just close to impossible to catch that kind of stuff with a cranky wee one with you. Oh, well. We did pretty good regardless.

Another bummer for this post is I don't have pictures. (left my camera at my parents on Easter--hope to get it this weekend.) I did snap some with my camera phone. BUT I don't really know how to get them from my phone to here, so we'll see. Maybe I'll figure it out. But I'm pretty sure I'd have to pay for sending them. And that's not thrifty, so we may just go without.

Meijer had a 10 for $10 sale this week. Not a ton of stuff to choose from, but with coupons I like the 10/10 sales. I also did several deals with manufacturer's coupons plus Meijer Mealbox coupons. You can only use 1 MMB coupon per item, but you can use a manu. coupon with a MMB coupon. It states "cannot be combined with another Meijer manufacturer coupon" and so I wasn't doing that, and they worked. I do not really like how they work, because when they ring up, it says "Promotion" or something like that and say "$0.00" which always confuses me. But on the receipt, the savings comes off underneath each particular item and not at the end like the manufacturer coupons. Here's what I got for $31.39.

It was like $65 something. I gave the cashier my coupons and she said "Let's see if we can get it down to $50." :) She was nice. But I though, Oh yeah, lady, it's getting under $50!

With just coupons, it was like $43. Not bad. But then I whipped out the AWESOME $25 Meijer giftcard that my DAD gave me...He said he just doesn't shop there and so I could have it. What? I think he was just being super nice and helpful, like usual. But THANK YOU! It came out to $18.48 after the gift card. WOW, that's great! Total savings: (not including gift card) $48.28! Nice.

So you can see with all the :P's, I could have done better, but that's that. I don't know if it's worth it to return the couple things that didn't come out right? I'll have to think about it. BUT I did get home and realize I didn't buy the 10 for $10 Ground Turkey they had on sale, that we needed! So today, when I was out on my own (to hit up a couple garage sales), I stopped at Meijer for the Ground Turkey. I also got the following:

**Here's the funny thing, at my garage sales, I didn't hit any great finds, BUT the best garage sale deal I got: At one of the garage sales, the seller gave me a little baggy of coupons. She said she picked a bunch up at her Day Care and so she handed me one. Yum... coupons. I was thrilled. I opened it up (I managed to wait til I got to the car) there were a bunch of coupons!!! Kleenex coupons, (plus samples), Kimberly Clark product coupon booklet (hence the Cascade coupon). It rocked! It made the relatively dismal garage sale finds ALL worth it. :)

But anyways, the total was $12.91, after the coupons and the $1 item off for the 10/$10 get 1 free sale. Total Savings of $20.79! Awesome again!!!

Total spent: $31.39Total Savings: $69.07That's about 70%! Nice work. Even without pictures and a bunch of :P's.

Friday, April 10, 2009

I wanted to share my Easter basket deals that I have put together. Cooper's not old enough to get Easter candy yet, but I've managed to pick up a nice assortment of Easter gifts for his basket this year--well, actually last year. You see, I am a big fan of stocking up for holidays, after the holidays. It sounds weird, but if you have the room (even just one plastic storage tub) you can grab wonderful holiday deals (75-90% off) after the holidays and save them for the following year, and even years to come. Here's Cooper's basket. I didn't even have to buy him an Easter basket, actually! For a shower gift, before he was born, someone gave me a beautiful basket, filled with diapers. I seriously think it may have been an Easter basket and they used it for a shower gift--what a great idea! So if you are needing a shower gift anytime soon, definitely scout out some cute Easter baskets that you see and grab them up after Easter when they go on clearance. I saw a super cute round sturdy one at CVS that I am hoping will still be there when it hits 75% off. I may consider 50% off , but probably not. I just usually think 50% off is that great a deal. I know, I'm crazy.

For the fillers, I picked up cute things throughout the year--mainly on 75% off--and store them down in the basement. Then when a holiday comes around, I have a selection of toys to choose from. Easter is a good holiday for little gifts (things that will fit in a basket, of course) so I found the Pluto stuffed toy ($1.48--Target after Christmas clearance), this Tonka Truck no-spill bubble cup (Kmart, 75% off summer clearance $1.25), and a set of cute Mickey Mouse Clubhouse race cars (Kroger, 75% off toy clearance--Kroger has really great toy clearances randomly. This was $2.49.)

I filled the basket with CVS free after Extra Buck Easter grass, from this year, and some Easter themed gifts that I grabbed up last year after Easter. Either 75-90% off. Cute stuffed Easter bunny, and two little hop-around Easter toys, which Cooper can play with for a couple weeks, and then I'll put them back in the Easter bin for next year. A perfect little basket!Also, as the year goes on, I gather books up with bunny/Easter themes. My mom is a big book giver, which I love, and some of the books are from her from last year. I don't have them out all year, just for the holiday. That way they seem new every year. And they actually stay new-looking, too. I did get these out about a week prior to Easter, so Cooper could look at them longer. As soon as I plopped them down in his book pile, he picked the new ones out and looked and looked at them. As far as Easter eggs, I have several bags of different Easter eggs that I picked up either on clearance (some at Big Lots, CVS, Walmart, etc.) and a bag or two at a garage sale. All either 75-90% off, or garage sale priced at around $0.50. If you find some ones you really like keep a mental note of it and then check back a couple days to a week after Easter. I thought the little carrot ones were adorable so I waited to get them on clearance at Big Lots last year and I also got a pack of the glow in the dark ones after Easter, that Cooper will probably be into for next year--that will be fun!) More than likely, you'll find some that you really like, that your kids will love, even if it is next year, or down the road. I found the large eggs at a garage sale--perfect for 1 year old hands to pick up. I also found a bag of dinosaur Easter eggs at a garage sale. When he hits the dino stage, which I'm assuming most boys do, he'll love them.

So, I hope I inspired you to save a little money on Easter. It just takes a little planning and a place to store some extra goodies. I think my Easter basket is so much better than those pre-packaged ones with cheap toys and loads of candy that I see all over the place. But I am a little biased to my own good deals. :) But really, I like the personal feel and the fact that I put it all together myself, all while saving some money. You don't have to sacrifice quality even when you are on a budget.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Sunday I went into CVS with the intentions of getting my 3 packs of Huggies, use my 3 $5 off coupons, and a $4 off of $20 coupon that I hadn't use yet, but when I scanned my card at the coupon machine, it spit out a $15 off a $75 purchase. Now, I know $4/$20 and $15/$75 still equals 20% off. I get that. But there's something about that $15 off that I COULDN'T resist. So I saved my coupons, browsed the store a little bit (there's lots of things being marked down, some that I have my eye on) and then left.

Later that night, after everyone was in bed asleep, I opened up my CVS ads and grabbed my stacks of coupons and went to work. Now, I'm sure you know if you shop at CVS, you never can count on them having everything you want to buy, especially if it's on sale with Extra Bucks. So I had a long list of things I really wanted and then some extras that would work.

I wish I could have grown my ECBs more, but I used all that I had. :( I would have done the Natural Dentist mouthwash, but I just didn't have enough ECBs to buy it and I really didn't want to use up more of my gift card balance. But I'm happy with it. Hopefully there will be some moneymaker deals coming up that will help me out. :) The moral of the story: It helps to PLAN. And for some reason, I really enjoy plotting out my next great deal. It's like searching for treasure! :)

Saturday, April 4, 2009

I am really exciting for garage sale season. I seriously am up to my ears in clothes for this summer (thanks to previous garage sales, clearance racks, a friend who passes down her son's clothes, etc.) But I still love to go, and especially since I'm not in a panic to get stuff for now, I can go, shop, find great prices and really be kind of picky about what I get.

So right now, I've been shopping for 2T, 3T and maybe some 4T if I find them. My little guy is 21 months old, so this summer he'll be on the verge of 24 month clothes and 2T clothes. And the nice thing is that with shorts, you don't have to worry so much about the length.

It feels early to be out at garage sales, but I did find a nice one this week. Before Cooper was born, I found a FABULOUS garage sale in Union, where the mom was just trying to get rid of her stuff. Stride Rite shoes for $0.50, I think it was. Clothes for $0.50. Socks, towels, etc for like $0.05! I walked away with 6 bags I think. And I still have shoes from her that I'm using! So I saw the ad, and it was the same street, about the same location, so I was HOPING it would be the same lady. I didn't see her, and it wasn't the same house (although it seemed to be about 4-5 moms putting the sale on), but there were great prices. Just not much of the sizes I was looking for. I found a couple 4T things at good prices, so I bought them up.

The 1st outfit is winter fleece pj's with polar bears and penguins. Cute. And $0.50. The 2nd outfit says Nike Football. It was a little more expensive than I usually go, but it was name brand so I splurged and spend $1.50. The 3rd outfit is also pj's, Cherokee brand, soft flannel with cars on the shirt and pin-striped pj pants. $0.50. So $2.50 for the 3 outfits. And good quality outfits.

My husband just a day or two earlier said "If you see some tennis shoes on sale for a good price, I need some." He was referring to the store, but I found some at the garage sale. :) $0.50!

They are Asics and they are in good condition. He has a couple pair of tennis shoes, but he needed some more comfortable ones to play basketball. So far so good. Until I find some more for 50 cents. :)

My last find was a splurge at CVS. Some things are going on clearance (it seems like of like extra Christmas type presents maybe) and I noticed one of the managers telling someone about some of the toys that were marked down. So I looked around. Nothing was really marked more than 25% or 50% off, but I thought I'd price check some things. Low and behold, I found a cute light up fish aquarium (not marked on clearance at all, but up on the top shelf where the rest of the clearance things were) so I price checked it. I bought Cooper one of these last year for $1 at a garage sale, but sadly it didn't light up, like the one at the Children's Hospital does, that was always make a special trip to go see. He loves it.

Anyways, the regular price was $9.99. Not bad. But it did ring up 75% off! $2.49! It was something special that I had been wanting to get, so I used some Extra Bucks to splurge and get it. He loves it. It lights up and has some Nemo fish on it. Cute cute cute. So worth it. :)

So those are my hot buys for the week. :) I'm excited for the coming week and getting some Huggies at CVS with my $5 coupons and Extra Bucks! And the Easter freebies too.